2025: Week 34 - Back to Westminster

After a lovely summer spent in the constituency, it was back to reality with a bang when Parliament reopened after recess.

You’ll remember that just before the house broke for summer, I was successful in getting the Government to confirm that the current Ukraine visas would be extended, the details of that were released on Monday 01 September when the Home Secretary confirmed that there would be further 24 months extension offered.  Whilst this is welcome news, it still doesn’t offer the certainty that our Ukrainian friends need, so I have written an open letter to the Home Secretary outlining my concerns and asking for the Government to go further and offer full security to these families that have made the UK their home over the past 3 years.  I will continue to challenge the Government on this issue.

During the past few months the world has been watching with horror the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and on Monday I asked the Foreign Secretary when will the Government recognise the situation and call it what it is, a genocide.  Whilst the Government have yet to declare the situation in Gaza such, the International Association of Genocide Scholars have passed a resolution saying the legal criteria defining genocide have been met. Israel must allow sufficient aid into Gaza immediately, and stop this man made famine.  The Government must follow through with its commitment to move to full recognition of a Palestinian state at the next UN General Assembly later this month.  There has to be a huge humanitarian response now to prevent more deaths, and to allow vital medical personnel and supplies into the area, along with other organisations who can ease the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Also this week I spoke in the house about Local Government Reorganisation and expressed my concerns that this project will not save any money, but will actually cost money, something that cash strapped councils just can’t afford. 

I argued that a mayor of Devon would be an impossible position; Devon is a large county made up of vastly different localities, rural, towns, cities and coastal regions. You cannot compare this to the position of mayor in a place like Greater Manchester, or London.  That is not putting power in the hands of local people, it would be the opposite. 

Another notable absence from the white paper is mention of the key roles played by Town and Parish Councils.  They are the true champion of locals as they are closest to the ground and most responsive to the day to day needs of their communities.  There must be statutory obligations written into this bill to ensure that these large unitary councils must work and cooperate with Towns and Parishes to ensure that local communities are not swallowed up and forgotten about.

And finally, I called for a statutory obligation for the new councils to provide public toilets.  For many of us such facilities are more than convenience, they are necessity…